Sunday, December 28, 2014

It's been a great year of health and exercise. For once I haven't had a running injury. I was able to run all year long and feel great. The things I will change for next year are the following; I plan to bike, run and swim more in 2015. My numbers below reflect a good year, but I know I can do much better. My next post, which will be week 1 of 2015 will have my Ultimate goals for 2015 which are the goals I'd like to achieve and know I can achieve, and then I'll set weekly goals.

Good things for the year: I ran more than in 2013 by over 300 miles. I tried a Nia class and a Cross fit class. Both classes I liked, but don't have time with my current teaching schedule to continue taking them. I could have done more miles on the elliptical, however I chose to sleep in more this year on bad weather days. Below is how my week and year went.

Good for week 50 Exercised most of the week, Fit in a swim and some time on the elliptical.
Bad for week 50. Didn't run as much as I needed to. Should have ran on Saturday because the weather was perfect.

Good for week 45: ran 4 times, got on the elliptical for a couple miles.
Not so good for week 45: didn't run on Friday like I had planned. Didn't bike or swim.
Totals for week 45:
Ran 16.25
Elliptical 2 miles
5 Body Sculpt classes

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Last two years I have done this race it has been super cold, like bitter, but this year I could wear shorts and by the end of the race I was too warm because I was giving it my all. Perfect running weather for an October night!

This race takes place in Lower Glen Oak Park, in Peoria, IL. You run through Springdale Cemetary. It is the hilliest course I've ever ran in my life. Here is the WEBSITE that tells you all about it. Here are results if you care: Full results!

There was a costume contest. Both Jason and I participated, but at his request there are no pictures of his costume because he absolutely HATES to dress up. He really doesn't even like Halloween, yet I love it. Anyway, I dressed as the Bearded lady from the circus and won 3rd place. However the prize was tickets to a hockey game in Peoria on Sunday, November 9th, which is today. So I advertised them on facebook to see who would want them and found someone that lives in Peoria that was super excited to go to that game and I mailed them my tickets.

The race started about 3 minutes after they advertised it would so that was at about 5:53p.m. I ran as fast as I could until the first long steep hill. Hills just zap me. I practice them all the time, seriously. I run hilly routes on purpose so that flat routes will be easy for me, but then I get to hills in a race and don't do well.

Two years ago I ran this race for the first time but because I went off the course and fell in a ditch, I sprained my ankle. I should have stopped at that point and waited for medical to arrive, then. Instead my friend that I was with insisted I walk on it and then try and run. I did that and I only ended up running because I was finishing faster and getting the pain over with. It was a super painful night which ended up costing me over a year of therapy on the ankle, a boot, crutches and lots of pain. My lesson I learned is "Never go off the course". Anyway that final time that year was 1:37:01. I walked so much of that course and took a long break when initially getting hurt.. The next year in 2013 I ran with my husband and good friends Lisa and Kyle. We ran most of it, but goofed off so much of that race. Our time was 1:36:58.

This year I took the race seriously. Jason and I were both trying to have a great race time. My PR for a Quarter Marathon (6.55 miles) was set in Columbus, Ohio the first Saturday of May in 2013. I was still having significant ankle pain, but was able to run for the most part without pain. That record was 1:12:15 and was set on a totally flat course. I was determined to beat that this year, even though this course was extremely hilly, I am very healthy this year and no longer suffer from ankle pain. So I thought, hilly or not, I'm beating that time. Sure enough I did. My chip time was 1;08:40. I knew I could do even better than this, however with running a 5K that morning and having a side cramp for most of this race, I'll take just a 3:35 minute PR. I know now that had this been a flat course I could have really killed it because in my last half marathon, I hit the 6.55 point at 1:02 something, so I have it in me for another major PR at some point! Jason and I ran together until mile 5 when I told him to just go. He finished in an amazing 1:05:24 for this hilly course. So a PR for both of us.

Good things about this race:
The finishing medal is awesome! One of my most favorite finishing medals.
The bib for your scrapbook is nice.
It was chip timed by a company that does immediate finishing results. Basically they are posting your results before you even have a chance to look them up. Cool!
Amazing food after the race.
Unique race. How many races do you know are at night running through a cemetary?
Extremely organized
Medical help on the course.
amazing true to size dri fit long sleeve shirt.
costume contest

Not so great things about this race:
That course is the hilliest, craziest course ever. (If you despise hills, then don't even sign up wimp.)
It's dark and the course has some places that you could trip and fall, so make sure you have a light on your body that you can see the ground at all times.
Lots of course debree like pinecones, rocks,hedge apples, lots and lots of leaves that can be slippery if wet, potholes, broken cement and much more.
Only one water station and you hit that twice, but I felt like there should have been something like at mile 2.5 or 3. Not sure how those marathoners on this course do with lack of water, but hopefully okay.

It was a cold morning, but not too bad for an October morning near Halloween. I was able to race in shorts and that means it wasn't too hot. This race suggested you run in costume, but I didn't want to. I was trying to go for a PR (personal record) so I only dressed in normal running clothes.
The course was flat until you turned off of Normandy Drive left onto Park Rd. You had to go straight up a steep hill. That's when I stopped running. I sped walked that hill, but it totally zapped me. This I'm sure is what cost me the PR today, but oh well, I'm fine with that. I ended up placing 3rd in my age group and I'm perfectly happy with that given the bad course.

Good things about this race:
It was chip timed
There was a shirt
There was a bib for your scrapbook
There was food after the race.

Not so great things about this race:
The shirt was cotton and not dri fit
The course had a huge steep long hill.
They only gave gift cards for 1st in each age group and didn't even recognize place 2 and 3 in the age groups.
Having an out and back course would have been MUCH better and wouldn't have involved a huge long steep hill.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Goals for week 42:Run 5-6 separate times. Mileage back up to what it was a couple weeks ago 25 or more miles for the week. Bike once, Swim once of more yards than last week. Complete all scheduled classes. Eat well!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

The day was gorgeous. Jason and I were going to run a half marathon in Nauvoo, Illinois that morning, but since Jason got injured in the Timber trek race last week we decided to not run the half. Thank goodness we hadn't registered for the race in Nauvoo or he would have lost out on the registration fee. We were waiting until the 8th to see how we felt since the Timber Trek mud/obstacle race before registering for another half. So since neither of us signed up, we both slept in really late. We decided to clean carpets instead. Then we did some yard work. I found this race online and it said it was an afternoon race. It looked amazing. My only regret is that I didn't sign up sooner to save money. We weren't sure we would go, but as the day progressed we decided to go.

It was a 5K on the side of the Mississippi river.The area was absolutely beautiful. We arrived nice and early and I asked at the registration if I could get a shirt. I was only going to do the race IF I could get a shirt since the fee was higher to sign up race day. Otherwise we would have both just volunteered and then went out to dinner instead.

The race started at 4 p.m. and since we arrived early we had a chance to walk alongside the Mississippi river and relax for a bit. Here is a picture that Jason took of the Mississippi River

I didn't take any pre-race pictures and I'm not sure why.

At about 3:30 Jason walked to the place where he needed to block off a street since he was a course monitor for the race.

I began to warm up. I did a .30 mile run then some high knees, some kick backs, some side twisting run things, some skips, then another .30 mile run, then walked about a half mile. I felt great.

I lined up near the front and when the gun went off I took off a little fast. I had a 7 minute mile pace to start. That is too fast for me and I knew I'd die off soon. But I felt good so I kept going. I only maintained that for about a half mile when I slowed a bit. My first mile was an 8.20 mile pace. Not bad. Mile 2 was a little slower, but not by much. I was still maintaining the 8.20-8.40 for most of it. There was a turn around at 1.30 and that worried me a bit because I remembered the race course being an out and back course on the internet. If we were turning around at 1.30 then the course would end up being REALLY short. But I figured that when we got near the finish line we would go past it and have another turn around to make it a 5K distance since this WAS a 5K right?

About .20 away from the finish line when we COULD HAVE GONE straight and gone down the street more and then turned around and come back to the finish line people were going straight into the finish line. Weird I thought, this can't be????? "If we go straight to the finish line then my time will be 22 minutes something and the distance isn't right. Something is WAY off by like a half mile off." Sure enough it was WAY off, it was tiny bit more than a half mile off. This made the race a 4K, not a 5K. I was bummed. I was set up to have another major PR in a 5K. I'm pretty sure I could have knocked another 30 seconds off my record, maybe more. I felt so good and I usually speed up at the end of the race. Oh well, every race can't be perfect, but having the distance off that much was a bummer.

I expected to place since not a lot of girls passed me and I only had 4 in front of me when I started, but I never expected to receive 1st in my age group or be 10th out of 100 women. Pretty cool. The next closest person in my age group behind me was 3 minutes and 10 seconds behind me. Now if I had to run another .55 miles would I have kept this lead? I don't know. I hope so and I was hoping to place in this race since the awards were really sweet looking, but you just never know who will sign up or show up. The full race results are HERE!

Good things about this race:
Chip timed for a gun and chip time.
Cute bib for your scrapbook
Great looking shirt.
Food after the race.
Sweet looking age group and overall awards
Race started on time.
Race course was flat.
Lots of volunteers

Not so great things about this race:
The course was short.

I took a few pictures and those are below. None of me this time.

Shirt with the medal.

Up close picture of the medal. It is a wood medal with a ceramic piece on top.

It was a super bitter cold day, like 48 degrees with a brisk wind of about 15 mph. However, even though it was cold I did have to complete this race. I have this thing that IF I register for a race then I do it unless I'm injured. Weather conditions do NOT deter me no matter what. I'm tough that way and I don't like to loose out on money that could have been spent elsewhere. I donate plasma to get extra money and I use that extra money on races, so I register for one, I do my best to complete it.

This year Jason and I talked Kari and her husband Noah into doing the race also. I have a bunch of pictures.

I already did a 5K that morning at one of my favorite 5K races around. Not only did I run that first race, but I ran it super hard and set a new 5k PR, so my body was a bit tired. Since I love this race I couldn't miss it so I had to do two races in a day!

Even though I started out tired, I did this race 8 minutes faster than last year. Also last year I was 15th in my age group out of 29 with an average pace of 14:10. This year I placed 6th out of 20 in my age group and had an average pace of 12:30 so I have improved a lot.

Results are HERE ! Some of the pictures are out of order and I tried to fix that, but it isn't working, so enjoy the pictures anyway out of order.

Good things about this race:
It's a Mud/obstacle race that is well thought out
It doesn't cost a ton to do like Warrior Dash
It is chip timed for a gun and chip time.
Food after the race
volunteers on the course to show you where to go.
Hard obstacles to complete so you feel like a boss when you are done.
5 miles of awesomeness.
Age group medals for 1st -3rd in each age group.
Bib for your scrapbook
Awesome looking shirt that I really like this year.
The race committee takes pictures of you on the course and doesn't charge you for them so you have memorable pictures for your scrapbooks and blogs.
They have door prizes although this year I missed them because I was getting dressed in dry clothes and they did the door prizes before the awards and last year they did them after. Bummer for me in case I was picked. :(
Instant results printed on a paper for your scrapbook.

Good for week 41: Taught all my scheduled classes. Swam once, biked once, Ran 4 separate times. Placed 1st in my age group in a race on Saturday. Met all goals I had set, but feel I should have had harder goals for the week.

Not so great for week 41: Should have ran more. Like on Monday or Tuesday. Didn't have a lot of mileage for the week.

Sunday, October 5, 2014

It was a very cold morning when we woke up. 38 degrees and LOTS of wind.
I felt this morning that it would be the perfect weather for running without the wind. When I stepped out of the car I was bitter cold and grabbed my cheap running gloves that I could throw if I got too hot.

I had read on the Ponseti website shown here. the night before that they were ONLY awarding awards for 1st in each age group. I quickly looked up the stats for my age group from last year. The girl that won 1st in my age group last year did it in 27:28 so I knew I had to run super fast to even try and be first. However my PR (personal record) was currently 27:10 set in 2011 and I hadn't come even close to that in 3 years. My last 5K I raced hard I got a 27:56 so I wasn't sure I could get close to being 1st. Plus you never know who will show up. I dressed with a loose long sleeve shirt on so I could feel the cold whip my skin. I had running capris on, so my ankles and legs felt cold. I have been training hard to run fast, but wasn't sure if I could pull off a 27:28 or better.

I started running and felt awesome. I started at a super fast pace of 7 minute mile, but obviously couldn't keep that pace. I ended up doing my full first mile in 8:28. 2nd mile in 9:21, 3rd mile in 8:22 and the last tenth of a mile in .11. Awesome for me. Actually this is a miracle for me. I haven't ever gone this fast. I got a new personal record by 48 seconds. Super awesome. My hard work is paying off.

Scott also ran well. It was his 2nd 5K ever and it had been a year since his last one. He got a new record by 47 seconds. So proud of him.

Good things about this race:
Bib for your scrapbook
Volunteers on the course telling you where to turn
chip timed for accurate results
Bib chip timing so there is no chip to return.
food after the race
instant results so you can see how you did.
door prizes
Medals for first place

Things that could be improved for this race:
Don't take us on the cross country course, it wasn't mowed well and there were holes in the ground which made it dangerous in spots. Also there is one huge steep hill that isn't fun going out of the cross country course back to the pavement.
One water stop, but no one was there handing out water.
No one calling out splits.
There were only medals for 1st in each age group, which this time was lucky for me, but I feel every race should have 1-3rd place recognized in each age group.
The awards for Overall winners were the exact same as the age group winners, so that didn't make them special and I feel they should get something really nice. Heck if I was ever lucky enough to get First through 3rd Female Overall then I would hope for a big trophy, plaque, huge gift certificate or something special.

Goals for week 40 of 2014 were these: Swim once, more yards than the previous week. Bike at least once, more mileage than the week before. Run 4 more more times. Accomplish goal on Saturday of 2 races in a day!Monday: Body Sculpt, Ran 1.05 miles, taught ZumbaTuesday: Body Sculpt in the early morning, then taught Body Sculpt again at nightWednesday: Walked/Ran 6 miles Taught Body SculptThursday: Ran 3.19 miles with Meridith and 1.5 miles alone.Friday:Body Sculpt class and lots of walking.Saturday: Ran 3.10 miles at Ponsetti races with a new PR., then ran 5.10 miles at Timber Trek that afternoon. Then lots of walking.Sunday:Long walk

Totals for week 40:Ran 19.94 miles5 Body Sculpt classes

1 Zumba classGood for week 40: Accomplished my goal of 2 races in a day! Achieved a MAJOR personal record in the 5K. 26:22 (48 second PR) and was 1st in my age group out of 11 women 40-44. then completed another race just 4 hours later and achieved 6th out of 19 in my age group in a muddy/obstacle 5 mile race. Did run 4 or more times. Completed all my scheduled classes.Bad for week 40: Didn't swim or bike this week.Totals for year:Elliptical 23.66 milesRunning 656.94 milesSwam 23,337.30 yards (13.26 miles)Body Sculpt classes 119Zumba classes 22Biking minutes 762 (12.7 hours) IndoorsBiking miles outside 284.81 milesStep classes 2Yoga classes 6Nia classes 1Cross Fit class 1Push ups on toes outside of teaching class:175Goals for week 41: Recover from the two races. Run 4 or more times this next week. Swim once, bike at least once. Complete all scheduled classes.